The first version of network implemented in Openstack is called nova-networking and can be still used. Some of the advantages and limitations can be seen below.

The most complex deployment architecture used VLANs to implemented tenant and isolation. This scenario has a lot ideas that are then later shared in Neutron plugins.

OVS plugin

As you can see the architecture looks very similar. There are some subtle differences although like: instead of VLAN we use GRE tunnels, instead of Linux bridge we use the OpenVswitch (OVS). The important thing to note is that we don't use OpenFlow protocol to control the OVS switches. The switch will be pre-programmed by the agent running on the hypervisor.

NVP plugin

To describe and explain how NVP works it is good to compare its architecture to OVS plugin above. The first slide shows what component are not being used.

The network communication model with NVP provides new component.

The main differences are:

OVS switches will be programmed by the NVP cluster using OpenFlow protocol

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Linux enthusiast

Profile:Curious systems engineer interested in many of the IT technologies but especially in cloud systems and network engineering. A quick learner who likes to tinker and who often spent time researching and trying new technologies for personal and business benefit.

Please note that the code available here is only for demonstration purposes. If you want to be serious, you'll have to make it more robust and integrate it. Also, the description is by no means a definitive reference on any of the subjects, but rather the result of my experimentation. Feel free to report any bugs or errors you find in the code or otherwise in the articles. Thanks